By Alabama Public Radio
Mobile, AL – Several state officials took an aerial tour of Alabama's Gulf Coast Friday to survey hurricane damage. State Conservation Commissioner Barnett Lawley says Gulf State Park suffered extensive damage. He says the fishing pier has only three sections still standing. It once stretched 825 feet into the Gulf. All of the bottom units at the state park's hotel and convention center were blown out. Lawley also says there is so much sand and debris that he couldn't tell where the beach highway is. A Mobile County commissioner also traveled to nearby Baldwin County, saying Gulf Shores and Orange Beach appear to be completely devastated.